Ten Ways To Move On
by Bretardedness101
Summary: "Roxas Strife. 16. Died on October 31st. Funeral held on November 16th. Short, blonde, blue eyes, kind kid. They tell me his death was undetermined, that he died of no real cause. I want records to prove it. I want his heartbeat, brainwave, sugar levels, oxygen intake, EVERYTHING. I'm gonna find out the truth."
1. Going Crazy

Ten Ways To Move On - I.  


**Going Crazy**

**Warnings: **Yaoiiiiii. No like man love? Then please go awaaaay. I'm serious. GTFO. I take flame and set it towards your house. And we don't want to mess up such good paint, yeah?

**Disclaimer: **OBVIOUSLY I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Unless Tetsuya Nomura is a sixteen year old black American girl...

**GO!**

* * *

Roxas Strife was an ordinary boy beyond all standards. He went to school every morning. He came home every evening. He had both a loving mother and a hard-working father. He had a small group of friends of which he treasured more than anything in the world. He had a sister and a brother, even a small dog. He had average grades and all the teachers who had the privilege of having him as a student adored him. He was a kind, funny, light-hearted gentleman that was the eye of affection for many girls. He never broke rules he shouldn't, never drank, smoked, or gave into any dark temptations. He had a promising future with many paths lined for him, many people who had his back every step of the way. But everyone knows... bad things happen to good people all too often. Roxas Strife is a prime example...

"N-n-n-not my baby... M-m-my poor b-baby...!"

Whenever one thought back in memory of the blonde, only positive, happy memories came to mind. Roxas was never one for trouble or conflict, at least he tried not to be. If anything, his weakness was confusion, but it was always fun to see the blonde so riled up on something so small and nonsensical. Roxas always spoke his mind, and his opinions and thoughts were always entertaining to those who listened. He was such an... innocent soul... no one would have guessed that tragedy would hit such a pure heart.

"It'll be alright, honey... We'll be alright... "

Roxas Strife died on October 31st, 2010. However, it wasn't anything like those horrific deaths where the victim was stabbed eighteen times to the chest or was struck in a crossfire between to people or even from a normal cause, like an illness or a fire. No, Roxas Strife lost his life during peaceful slumber. No bullets, no wounds, no clue as to what led up to his mysterious death. Just a young, harmless boy deprived of any life sleeping eternally in his bedroom on a normal Sunday night.

_Died peacefully in my sleep... as if. _

Big, lonely blue eyes watched in pure agony as the deathly pale body he'd lived in for sixteen years was lowered into the earth, flowers thrown in after its descent. Roxas crossed his arms with a ragged sigh while he watched his own funeral. It was the worst feeling in the world, the worst sight to ever _witness_ in the world. He hadn't known that, even as nothing more than a mere spirit, his heart could shatter so violently. To see his mother cry, to see his unmoving body put into the ground, to see his life actually _end_. If he could, Roxas would have vomited.

_Please don't cry, mother... I'm still here..._

He wanted so badly to comfort her, to tell her he was still and would always be with her... but he couldn't. They couldn't hear him. They couldn't hear, see, or feel him... He was stuck between this life and the next with no real purpose or great life-satisfying, last minute accomplishment. At first, Roxas truly thought it was Hell. When he realized his predicament, when he realized his death, he was so utterly scared and revolted, he hadn't the slightest idea of how to function. But now, as he watched his parents suffer the loss of their son, as he watched his own body being covered by mounds of dirt, he felt undying anger. Why _him_? How did it happen? Why not some sleazy rapist or some mafia killer? What had he done to earn such a demise? It just wasn't fair and Roxas couldn't bring himself to understand a decent reason or justification on behalf of his sudden death.

It gave the blonde animosity he never knew he could posses.

"Roxas... how could this have... _Roxas..._"

Roxas clenched his fists. _Namine..._ She couldn't even form a sentence without breaking down into more tears. Roxas hated seeing his little sister so broken. His articulate, intelligent sister who always had known the right words to say, who was always the silver lining in the midst of the darkest clouds, _speechless beyond her cries. _Even his big brother, stoic and unphased as the pavement that is walked on, looked on the verge of cracking into a rampage of anger and hurt. _Cloud_... Roxas felt so much strangling guilt, it nearly killed him a second time. Their sadness was because of _him_, even though he knew he had no control over it.

_I'm sorry..._

* * *

Axel bit at the corner of his lower lip as he waited for the strife family to mourn over their loss. Sad partings like this was never his scene, it made him shifty in discomfort. But being the family's driver for the night - as they were in no condition to drive themselves, even the seemingly put together father - paid a hell of a lot more than any cashier job. The only taxing problem was the overwhelming sadness that seemed to be contagious just from being near the four. For hours, Axel wondered who this Roxas kid was that had so many people bawling their eyes out. The entire churchyard was swarmed with grieving people!

When Axel saw the family finally returning to the car almost an hour after the disperse of everyone else, he quietly opened the backseat door to let them inside. As each entered the car, they all gave him a sad look almost as lifeless as the son they just buried, if not more. The smallest one with blonde, nearing platinum, hair was the last to get in but before she did, she glanced at Axel with an extremely forced smile that looked like it would fall apart any moment. "Thank you for waiting so long, I apologize if we took longer than needed." She said silently, giving a slight bow of thanks before climbing into the car beside her brother.

Axel's head shook in disbelief as his green eyes widened. She had just lost a brother and she was apologizing for mourning over it? If it were Axel, he couldn't imagine the fiery that'd course through his veins. He probably would have knock the living hell out of his driver just because the man had the nerve of looking him in the eyes. What kind of family was this? Even not knowing the people and Axel felt like he _knew_ they had done nothing to deserve the crap they were going through. Just the opposite. In fact, these people were such saints, they deserved the blessing of out living a century with nothing but good fortune.

"Driver...?" A little, timid voice called out from the inside of the car. Axel hummed absently in response before realizing it was his client trying to notify him of his daydreaming. Snapping back to reality, Axel apologized hastily before waving away at his thoughts and closing the door. He made quick work of going around the car and getting into the driver's side. He started the car, the engine rumbling to life and silencing the occasional sniffling in the backseat, before he pulled away from the church. He made frequent glances through the rear view mirror to ensure that the Strife family was okay, but for the main part stayed unheard.

The drive was quiet, the atmosphere in the car was heavy and Axel wanted desperately to make conversation or _something_ to change the mood. He sighed in frustration as he stopped at a red light and ran his fingers through his hair. Suddenly his eyes felt heavy and his body, exhausted. All this silence didn't fit him well and dealing with it reluctantly was such a hassle...

"_The light's green..._"

Axel's head snapped up in surprise as he searched the passenger seat for the voice that whispered into his ears. Axel's eyebrows scrunched in confusion as he found nothing but an empty space. When he looked back to the road, the green light that had been patiently waiting for him to drive through had turned yellow as if mocking the redhead's negligence. With more force than needed, Axel hit the gas and rushed across the intersection before the light had the chance to turn red again. "Am I flippin' shit or did I really just hear that?" He muttered tiredly to himself.

"Sir?" The father from the back asked dubiously. Axel smiled sheepishly at the man through the mirror, using body language this time to apologize for his second stumble that night.

"Nothing, nothing. Just thought I heard something up here. Didn't mean to speak aloud." The redhead smiled a little bigger as the man nodded in understanding. But as soon as the eye contact was broken, Axel dropped his smile like a poisonous mushroom. He _had_ heard something, crazy or not. But he wasn't about to chance another peek to the passenger side if his life depended on it. Axel was convinced that the Strife family may have brought the ghost of their son or some creepy horror stuff like that.

After almost a half hour of more muted driving, Axel finally dropped off the Strife family, and their freaky ghost son, at their house. They told him that his check would be mailed to him by the end of the week and they all walked inside, each doing whatever they could to hold off their remaining tears until in the comfort of their home. Axel made sure they made it safely into the house before walking back to the driver's side and plopping down in the seat exhaustively.

"Man, what a long night..." The redhead yawned, undoing his tie and shrugging out of his chauffeur coat. It was when he was about to put the car in drive when he heard it again.

"_I'm sorry for the trouble, thank you for getting my family home safely. I'd owe you my life if I had one to give..._"

Axel's eyes rounded as his head whipped around to the passenger seat again. Though this time, he wasn't met with an empty space, but instead a clearly transparent boy. Axel had never screamed in his life before that night. The redhead hands trembled irregularly as he tried to open the driver's side door, but his hands seemed to touch everything but the handle in his hurried frenzy. "Shit, shit, shit! Open damnit!" The windshield wipers turned on, whipping at the fastest possible speed, the turning signals flashed, the back windows were rolling down and up, the locks in the car locked and unlocked indecisively, and yet the door refused to grant the redhead his desperate wish to leave the car.

"_No! Please sir, don't leave!_"

Axel's body froze as the ghost boy addressed him. A breath of relief was sighed behind him and the sound made the redhead's skin crawl feverishly. A_ ghost _was talking to him - a _ghost_ was in the car next to him! "This isn't happening. This is _not_ happening. I must have fallen asleep waiting for the Strife family..." Axel tried to reason to himself. With shaky confidence, Axel turned his head back toward the passenger seat and stiffened when that empty space void of any ghosts met his eyes. The redhead sat there dumbly, staring into the naked space he could have sworn a little, blonde boy had been sitting and trying to determine if he was actually awake or if he needed to take a quick visit to the doctor's office.

It was a long, soundless, five minutes before the redhead decided to move again, although every slow move was wary and experimental. Every half second, green eyes would flick back to that empty seat beside him and expect to find the blonde, but never did. The minute he was at his job's garage, he jumped out of the limo and ran to his own Dodge Viper with such cowardly speed, it should have demolished any pride he had as a man. Slamming on the gas and damn near flipping the car to its side with how fast he swerved the corner, Axel sped his way home and away from the possessed limousine.

He didn't waste a minute when he pulled into his apartment complex at getting out of the car and up to the second floor. It took a few tries, but with the turn of his key he was finally home free. "What's up, Axe! How was the funeral?" His roommate, Demyx, called from his upside down position on the couch. But Axel didn't stop long enough to give anything more than a grunt for a reply. After the front door was securely locked, his room was the only thing on his mind. Demyx lifted a dirty blonde brow suspiciously but shrugged anyway, returning to his equally bottom up movie.

The redhead let out a long, deep sigh and shook his head lightly. He still felt fidgety and paranoid, even in his own room. Axel wasn't intoxicated, wasn't dreaming, wasn't flipped out on pills, wasn't hallucinating, wasn't sick. _He saw that ghost kid._ He couldn't fool himself into thinking that he didn't. _He __**heard**__ that ghost kid. _No mistaking it. But... "Ghosts aren't real." He scolded himself. He told himself that while he cleared his mind of any sightings of little blonde boys in his car, he told himself that as he walked into the bathroom, and he told himself that as he stepped into the shower, letting the hot water wipe him down of any remaining paranoia. By the time he turned the shower head off, he felt completely silly for freaking out over something that was nothing more than a figment of his tired imagination.

"Demyx is going to have a field day when I tell him." Axel chuckled while he wrapped a dark red towel around his waist. He reached inside the bathroom closet for the same colored towels but smaller on the top shelf. When he grabbed it, he turned toward the mirror above the sink to watch himself idly as he dried his hair with it. And for the second time in his life, and in one night, screamed bloody Mary at the sight of blonde in the corner of the glass. Axel recoiled back so fast that he fell against the door and slid down it in panic. "I knew it! I knew I saw a ghost!" The redhead yelled, pointing a trembling finger at the see-through figure.

"_So you can see me afterall!_" The blonde seemed to rejoice, unmistakable blue eyes glittering with hope as they regarded the redhead.

Axel had many urges at once when hearing that same ghostly voice. He wanted to run, he wanted to scream, he wanted his mom, he wanted to lunge at whatever higher power had plagued him with such a nightmare, he wanted to be anywhere than reality. "What do you mean _see you_!? Of course I can-" Axel hollered again in distress. "Shit, I'm talking to a fucking ghost! This can't be happening to me!" The blonde boy stood upright as if the situation had finally registered. When it did, he began to laugh. Axel's eyes couldn't exceed the size it had widened to anymore, but if they could, his eyes would have rounded to the size of Jupiter. A ghost was _laughing_ at him. "It's gonna eat me..." Axel breathed incredulously. "I'm about to die! _**DEMYX**_!"

"_No! I'm not going to eat you or harm you in any way, I promise!_" The spirit boy pleaded, this time kneeling on his knees and trying to console the frightened redhead by putting a hand on his arm, but his hand faded straight through the redhead's arms as if it wasn't there to start with. The blonde frowned and held his hand to his chest with the hurtest expression in his blue eyes. Axel silently watched, his frantic mind calming the slightest at the sight.

"Axe?! What's going on in there, man?!" Demyx yelled from the other side of the bathroom door. Axel stood abruptly, all ghost-related sympathy aside, and opened the door to reveal a thoroughly disheveled blonde. Standing aside, Axel waited for the blonde to see anything out of the norm inside the bathroom, but after a few looks from the redhead to the bathroom Demyx arched an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

Axel's jaw slipped ajar as he looked back to the blonde standing right in front of Demyx's face. "You don't see him?" The redhead asked in a higher pitch than he was proud of. Demyx sucked his lips behind his teeth with a confused crease in his eyebrows as he gave the small bathroom another quick sweep with his eyes.

"See who? There's no one except you." Demyx pointed out and Axel glared at the obvious sarcasm laced in his words.

"Don't say that like I'm fucking crazy. There is a _ghost_ in that bathroom that keeps following me around, I swear! Are you seriously telling me that you don't see him!?" Axel barked, getting chills on his skin as he heard his own words.

"Uhh, yeah? That's exactly what I'm saying." Demyx said slowly. "Axe, are you okay?"

Axel put his hands on both Demyx's shoulders. "Demyx, we've been friends since grade school, so please, _please_ don't think I'm bullshitting when I say _**there is a ghost in that bathroom**_**.**" Axel spoke with a wavering voice that was near cracking in fear. Demyx eye's rounded a bit as he tried to block the seriousness in his usually playful best friend. Demyx was openminded about most things and ideas, but _ghosts_? Come on, this had to be a test of friendship or he was getting Punk'd or something!

"Alright, what's the ghost look like?" Demyx asked, scratching at the back of his head habitually. Axel could tell his friend thought he had lost all his marbles and then some with the way he approached the situation and he was about to blow up on him when Demyx's eyes suddenly widened almost bigger than Axel's had earlier. Axel arched a red eyebrow and turned to see what had spooked the dirty blonde when he saw the little ghost kid writing something on the fogged mirror.

_'Blonde, short, blue eyes.'_

Axel would have thanked the blonde for helping him in getting Demyx to understand his point had the redhead not been as scared as Demyx was at the moment. The dirty blonde stumbled back a few steps pointing at the writing that answered his question. "A-A-Axe! Th-th- It- On th-the mi-mir- Holy shit!" He shouted incoherently. Axel made an exasperated face as if to say "_Duh_" before he faced the ghost kid again.

"_I didn't mean to scare him, it's just that we weren't getting anywhere without proving to him that I was here. I apologize for the fright._" The boy said, smiling impishly. Axel couldn't say hearing the ghost kid talk again put his nerves at ease, actually it put them all on end, but Axel couldn't help thinking that he wasn't harmful. Call it a man's intuition or just plain wishful thinking in what could possibly be his last moments of life.

"He says he's sorry for scaring you, Dem..." The redhead whispered, eyes never leaving the blonde. Demyx's eyebrows shot for the roof.

"You can _hear_ it too?! It's a ghost, by the way! What the hell did it think it was going to do?! Make my freaking day?!" Demyx prattled horrifically, purely mortified of the entire ordeal. Axel rolled his eyes, finally breaking eye contact with the blonde. Now that he thought about it, the ghost kid looked a lot like the Strife's son that had been buried today.

Axel suddenly gasped with an urge to pass out. "You're Roxas aren't you?" The redhead questioned, face contorting yet again with unbelieving fear. The ghost's face darkened into a deep sadness as he nodded.

"_Yes. I wanted to see to my family's safe return home, but when I found out that you could hear me- and could __**see **__me, I couldn't pass up the chance to communicate with the living. Please believe me, I'm not a demon or plan to hurt you or your friend. I'm just scared and confused and you're the only person I can talk to. Being dead is not fun and not passing on is Hell compared to death itself..._"

All of Axel's anxiety of the ghost possessing his body or torturing him to literal death melted into pity for the blonde. He was just a kid, ghost or non. And as Axel thought about it, it must be hard for the blonde to go through on his own. Though the redhead didn't fully drop his guard, he did calm down from his minor heart attack. Demyx, on the other hand, was going to take a while.

"Look, Roxas. It's not that I mind helping you... it's just..." Axel began, feeling so weird and abnormal for talking to something that he had thought never existed for nineteen years of his life.

"_That I'm a ghost?_" Roxas smiled bitterly. "_I apologize for the inconvenience._"

Axel felt guilty for thinking it as an inconvenience of the blonde's inhuman form, but it really was, for his sake and to his sanity. Demyx stared daringly into the bathroom and shivered with the attack of haunted goosebumps as he still saw nothing. How could Axel see and hear a _ghost_? It was so unreal, and...

"Completely unfair..." Demyx muttered absent mindedly.

Axel peered over his shoulder at Demyx and snorted just as bitterly as Roxas had smiled. "What is? That I'm the loon who can see ghosts?" Demyx nodded frantically and sighed when Axel glared at him for trying to make a joke of something so bone-chillingly serious.

"I'm just saying that you have an advantage. In my eyes, there is nothing there, but I know it is because it wrote on the mirror- Thanks, ghost, for the prompt of my nightmare tonight, by the way. It's just... It's easier for you to believe this is happening when you can actually _see_ it." Demyx tried to explain, voice level but eyes constantly darting to the inside of the bathroom with hopes and fears of seeing the short, blonde, blue-eyed ghost boy.

Axel saw out of the corners of his eyes Roxas disappearing into the wall and stiffened. Where was he going? Even if Axel knew the ghost wasn't harmful, merging with a wall was going to have to stop _tonight_. Seconds later, Roxas had returned, but he had to clear his throat to get Axel to realize he wasn't in the bathroom anymore but behind him and beside Demyx. Said dirty blonde figured that if Axel was now looking beside him, the ghost must have moved there. When he looked, he nearly screamed again. The only thing there was a whiteboard floating in midair. Although Axel could see it was Roxas who was holding it, he decided to stay silent as the small blonde began to write another message for Demyx.

_'Since you cannot see or hear me, this board will replace my body and the messages on it, my words.'_

Demyx looked quickly to Axel who shrugged tentatively then set his glance back on the board as another message was facing him.

_'I'm Roxas Strife. I'm 16 and no longer alive. I died on the 31st of October from a cause no one, not even I, could identify.'_

The dirty blonde swallowed and waited as Roxas erased the board to write again, only partly noticing that the ghost apparently had Axel's rapt attention as well.

_'I promise that I'll try not to scare you again, and I'm sorry for doing so already. I just need your help. I need to find out how I died, then maybe I'll be able to move on.'_

Axel blinked before rereading the board. "So if we help you find the cause of your death, you'll be able to go to heaven or whatever?"

"_I'm not sure, but it's all I've got at the moment._" Then remembering that Demyx was a sitting duck in the conversation, he wrote what he had said on the board for him to read. Then at the last minute, he added something in parenthesis. _'(Your towel is starting to lose its purpose.)'_

Red eyebrows furrowed as Axel looked down his body to the towel loosely clinging to his waist. He frowned as his cheeks lit with a dim, but still somehow heated flush. The night was just full of ways to screw the redhead over, wasn't it? Axel gritted his teeth in thorough embarrassment as he imagined the blonde watching him getting out the shower and putting the damn thing on without him even knowing. Axel looked dead into Roxas' eyes with a serious glint as Demyx filled the air with light, awkward laughter. The small blonde smiled with a noticeable blush, even for a transparent ghost, and shifted on his heels.

"When I get dressed, we're going to have to establish a few rules."

_**Fin**_

* * *

**A/N BETCH: **Firstly, excuse my _continuous_ mistakes. I didn't even bat another eyelash at this story when this chapter was finished. Secondly, this is the third uploaded- submitted or posted or _whatever_- story so **UPDATES WILL BE SLOW AS HELL**. I'm so sorry, I just got overexcited and posted- updated or submitted or _whatever_- every story I deemed worthy. At the moment, I'm juggling seventeen stories, be it oneshot or chapter. It's still a # %$% * lot, right?

Review/Favorite, **it's totally your call**. I write for fun, not for fame.


	2. Ain't No Death Like A Silent One

Ten Ways To Move On - II.  


**Ain't No Death Like A Silent One**

**Warning: **I didn't read over it! Error galore! (I'm sorry, stomach ache...)

**Disclaimer: **Do I have to do this each chapter...? Well... I guess since I don't have any money if I get sued, I'll do it anyway. I don't own nor have I ever own Kingdom Hearts or the characters within.

**GO!**

* * *

Roxas sighed as he sat on the floor in front of the television screen watching some pointless comedy about a man who obviously played both himself and his sister. It was based off a children's story, but he didn't really care enough to remember the title. The blonde really couldn't complain about his seating options, he didn't yet know how to solidify his body enough to keep him from phasing through things. It took all his concentration just to keep from sinking straight through the floor!

It was nearing seven in the morning and both Axel and Demyx were knocked out on the couch, tangled in each other limbs as they both tried to fit comfortably on the small piece of furniture. Roxas had then decided that he didn't like the nighttime. He was completely alone, like a soundless being in the darkness of the night. He had used up most of the night watching his family slowly sniffle their way to sleep, a picture of their deceased blonde somewhere nearby to suffice for the one that had supposedly left their world. He tried multiple times to get them to hear or see him the way Axel had, but they hadn't noticed him at all. And taking in account how Demyx and Axel had acted when knowing they were sharing their presence with a ghost, Roxas decided not to put that on their shoulders so soon by leaving them messages or the like. He knew it would just break their hearts further.

"Demyx... move over man..."

Roxas looked up at the mumbling redhead, now dressed in loose sweatpants, and smiled softly. When he remembered that Axel could see him, it made being nothing more than a wandering soul a bit easier to accept. He wasn't completely alone when the redhead was near him and the thought really was his light at the end of the tunnel. But he had to wonder, how was it that Axel could see him when no one else could? It was strange, but so was being dead and earth-bound, he figured.

Hours passed before the two stirred at the morning light. Roxas was slightly agitated at the restless hours of sitting and dwelling on morose thoughts because he, as a ghost, couldn't sleep. He _could_ sleep if he wanted, but he was too afraid of feeling that sense of loneliness in a dark and horrid place if he closed his eyes. He was too afraid that if he went to sleep, he'd wake up by himself in a world where he did not even truly exist but could watch others who did. Any thought of him alone without Demyx and Axel particularly frightened him. Roxas got up from in front of the tv, which was now featuring an 80's sitcom, and retrieved his whiteboard.

_'Good morning, guys! Sleep well?'_ He wrote, grinning widely when the teens groaned as they read it.

"As if." Axel murmured sleepily, scratching at his bedhead unconsciously. "Demyx, it's time for you to go on a diet, my friend."

Roxas laughed, not that Demyx could hear it, as the dirty blonde exclaimed with surprise in his defense. "Oh, so you're saying I'm the reason _you_ took up all the room?" He retorted. Roxas noticed with slight envy that Demyx didn't even have a bedhead, regardless of all the shifting and twisting he did sleeping. That was a bigger mystery than Roxas' own existence there.

Axel snorted and stretched his hands above his head before standing. "Sure, that's what happened. Anyway, next order of business is breakfast."

_'It's already 12, Axel.' _Roxas pointed out smugly via whiteboard. Axel's face scrunched up as his tired thought process tried to keep up with the new information.

"Oh, well, lunch then? Then afterwards we'll make a trip to Twilight Hospital for a little recon." The redhead yawned. Demyx stood and saluted with two fingers before walking down the hall.

"Aye-aye, Captain."

* * *

"Strife, Roxas. He's that little blonde boy that passed away about two and a half weeks ago." Axel said into the front desk window to the receptionist. Said lady arched a fine, blue eyebrow before looking away from her monitor to give the redhead her full attention.

"Is there a specific reason why you need his records? Because, as you know, it is against our policy to elicit private information to just anybody without identification." She explained with a motherly tone, almost scolding the boys for even having the nerve to walk in the front doors and ask such questions.

"I'm just a close acquaintance who wants to know exactly what led to his friend's death. I don't want to confront his parents just yet, they're already broken enough as it is. Why make them relive their son's death when I can get all the technical information right here, hm?" Axel said with a devilishly smooth drawl. The lady at the desk was about to counter when Axel interrupted her with a straight face. "Look- Aqua, is it? This is _Roxas_ we're talking about. Roxas, my friend, who's gone, _dead_. The least you could do for me is just tell me how he kicked the bucket." The redhead spoke lowly, acid green eyes narrowing.

With a sigh, the receptionist pressed a button on her desk and called for some doctor through the PA system. Roxas felt almost impressed with Axel's acting and tried not to think about how the way he acted could be how others had actually felt the day of his funeral. Before long, a man in a white lab coat and long, pale blonde hair came from behind the door that led to several other halls throughout the hospital building. He looked too cold and stolid to be a doctor in Roxas' opinion.

"Hello, my name is Dr. Vexen. May I help you fine gentlemen with anything?" He greeted with a practiced smile, scaring Axel and Demyx with his unexpected politeness. Roxas would have felt ashamed for labeling the man without getting to know him first had the surprise not been so funny, especially with how the two reacted to it.

"Yes you can in fact." Demyx announced dramatically, sending a mocking glare at the receptionist who just rolled her blue eyes with a deceivingly entertained smirk on her lips. "We need the records for Roxas Strife before he passed away."

Roxas lifted his eyebrows with amusement at the dirty blonde's wording as Vexen seemed quite taken back. "I beg your pardon?"

Axel crossed his arms, his patience slowly and painfully thinning. "Roxas Strife. 16. Died on October 31st. Funeral held on November 16th. Short, blonde, blue eyes, kind kid." Axel eyed the doctor before he was sure they were still on the same page, paragraph, sentence and word. "They tell me his death was undetermined, that he died of no real cause. I want records to prove it. I want his heartbeat, brainwave, sugar levels, oxygen intake, _everything_. I'm gonna find out the truth."

Dr. Vexen smiled almost sardonically at the redhead's demand. He glanced briefly at the receptionist who shook her head with a hopeless shrug. Although the gesture was highly informal, to which Vexen would deal with later, it let him know that the two teens weren't documented in the blonde boy's contacts. "I'm pretty sure this goes without saying, but it's our policy to maintain the privacy of each of our patients and to keep such records confidential. I sincerely apologize, but you must have the consent of Strife's intermediate family to obtain the information of his death."

Axel glared slightly at the doctor and was about to insist on getting those files, but Roxas stood in front of him and shook his head. This was a lost cause, he was saying. The redhead grit his teeth before scoffing under his breath. "Whatever." Axel didn't understand why this was a problem, technically the records he needed should have no longer been useful to the hospital. Nothing but meaningless paper stored away to collect dust. Dr. Vexen said that he had to keep the information of the patients confidential, but Roxas was already dead. Whatever was recorded in those documents means absolutely nothing now, so why the hassle? What harm was it if he took them?

Roxas was having these same thoughts as he listened to the conversation between the staff and the two teens. If he could, he would have just phased through some walls and bada-bing, bada-boom, his records were his. But in this castle of a hospital, there was no telling where the files were. Plus, Roxas wasn't quite in touch with his inner ghost self yet and he probably wouldn't have even been able to properly hold them until he reached Axel.

"Damn, what now?" Demyx mumbled, shifting his weight to one leg and crossing his arms behind his head. Axel shared a glance with Roxas and shrugged. Roxas noticed out the side of his peripheral something slowly coming their way and turned to face it. When he finally realized it was a person coming his way, he didn't have enough time to brace himself before the person walked straight through him. It stung a little, the reminder that he was dead, truly nothing more than a soul without a body. The person that walked through him, however, seemed unperturbed. But why would he be? Not like he could see the blonde ghost. Only Axel could.

"I don't mean to pry," The person began, summoning the attention from the two teenagers who were plotting their next move. "But did you say Roxas Strife?"

Axel eyed the person suspiciously. He was a short, slender man with a blue-ish tint to his silver hair shading one side of his face like curtains. In his blue eyes, there was curiosity with underlying mischief, but the redhead wasn't going to judge considering this was information handed to him on a silver platter. "Yeah, you know him?"

The silver haired boy nodded briefly. "He was the talk of the entire vicinity for a week, hard not to know him. Also, I've been running constant analysis of his death. As paranormal as it sounds, I've come up with nothing every time. It's like his soul died, but not the body." The silverette looked at Axel with a serious face. "I'm the son of the owner of this hospital, Zexion Maexare. I have the keys to the filing closet if that's what you need, but if you don't mind my asking, what's your motivation?"

Axel looked quickly toward Roxas before rubbing at the back of his neck with an awkward chuckle. "Let's just say his death has been haunting me lately." Roxas bristled at this with another visible blush as he crossed his arms. Axel smirked but the look Demyx gave him told him that, publicly, he looked like a loon smirking at nothing. Zexion watched the two teens with latent interest before waving them after him.

"I can get you all the records we have on him while the doctors were examining him, but I can't say it'll help you much." Zexion told them as he led the two (three) down the hallway. Initially, when hearing their conversation with the doctor, Zexion thought it was just more family or friends asking about Roxas Strife's death, but these two... They didn't seem all that remorseful about the kid's death at all, more like using it as a pawn to get the information. Zexion couldn't really decipher their motives at face value, but when someone caught a hold of his curiosity, there was no stopping him from sticking around and learning all that he could. Call him nosy, but maybe they could all help each other out.

"Because there aren't any abnormalities?" Axel questioned, almost knowing that was the case from the start.

Zexion nodded solemnly. "Precisely."

"So what does that mean for us?" Demyx spoke up as he jogged a little to walk beside the silverette. "I mean, if there aren't any abnormalities with his body after his death, what kind of results can we gather from it?"

Zexion looked ahead for a moment before sighing. "I can't really say if there_ is _anything. Believe me, I've looked."

Roxas frowned. What Zexion was saying couldn't be true could it? Even the doctors couldn't find the answers he needed? The entire situation itself was crazy. It wasn't enough that he was incapable of passing onto the next life, but there wasn't a single clue as to _why _he couldn't pass on either? It was ridiculous, _mind wrecking_. Roxas couldn't wrap his head around what was happening to him. What was he suppose to do if he couldn't find answers here? Continue roaming the earth like a silent wind? Live as a bodiless soul for all eternity with no one by his side? A life without others... forever...?

"You okay, Roxas?"

Roxas' eyes snapped forward in attention. Blue eyes fell on the concerned face of Axel and his nerves that were in such turmoil seconds previous started to calm at the warm reminder. The reminder that at this moment of time, he wasn't alone. _"Y-yeah. I'm fine..." _

Axel quirked a corner of his lips. "Don't worry." He whispered reassuringly, making sure Zexion and Demyx rounded the corner before speaking to the little blonde ghost. "We're gonna help you out."

Roxas stared at the redhead, surprised. He wanted to deny the redhead, make him understand his worries and fears. Make Axel understand that what they're trying to do may be well over their heads. But the words never came. Roxas looked at the glossy linoleum floor and frowned with a sigh when he only saw one shadow. _"Thanks..."_

Axel could tell the small blonde wasn't yet convinced of a positive outcome in their search, but for now he'd have to let the blonde ghost be. Speeding up in his strides, the redhead caught up with Demyx and Zexion who were arguing about whether or not Zexion was even _old enough_ to be a doctor. They were so enrapt in their argument that they never even noticed Axel's absence, or reentry.

"Age doesn't determine one's knowledge, only limits it. Compared to you, what I know in terms of medical knowledge exceeds greatly of what you would claim to know, though we're the same age. However, what I know compared to what a veteran health care worker of ten years knows differs greatly, not because of age, but because of age _difference_, because of the experience they've already gained compared to the experience I'm still trying to gain."

"Age and age difference are basically two sides of the same ass." Demyx retorted. "Because you're only 17, it can be automatically assumed that you know less and are less experienced than someone say 31 or something."

"But that's unavoidable, seeings how anyone new to an occupation are less competent than those who have already dedicated most of their life to it. I'm simply saying that despite my youth, I'm as good a doctor as those around me are expected to be."

Axel groaned loudly, putting an end to the lengthy debate of which neither would gain from if winning. "Seriously guys?"

Demyx and Zexion glanced at each other in realization of their bickering before looking away with a simultaneous snort. "He started it." They both claimed.

* * *

"131 pounds, 5'6, 85 BPM heart rate, 93 mg/dl blood sugar level, 5.3 umol/L Homo-cysteine, 9,164 red blood cells per minute, 9,262 white blood cells per minute, 13.9 g/dl Hemoglobin, 56% Hematocrit, 79.9 fL Mean Corpuscular Volume..." As Axel read through Roxas' medical records, he could honestly say that his chances of becoming a doctor one day were looking to be zero to negative 1000. All the information on the page was like an entirely different language.

"Okay, stop." Demyx finally pleaded, his head beginning to throb just from attempting to understand what Axel was reading.

Zexion smirked to himself, feeling slightly superior because he understood the statistics. "Basically he shows no signs of irregular health anywhere in his body."

Both Axel and Demyx glanced up in surprise before quickly recovering with a short cough and nodding understandingly. "Right." Axel agreed, reading over the information on the sheet once more in wonder of how the young silverette understood _any _of that.

Roxas stood by the redhead and read over the information as well. Though Roxas was a great deal smarter than your average sophomore, he didn't understand a word of what was on that paper. But, he was smart enough to get answers elsewhere._"Can we take these with us?"_ He asked Axel, who looked to him in curiosity.

"Sure, but I don't see how that'll help us any." Axel muttered. A spitting sound was heard from where Demyx stood and when Axel peered his way, he noticed Zexion looking at him funny. That's when the redhead finally realized his mistake. "Talking to myself." The redhead smiled carelessly. "Hey, can we take a copy of these papers home?"

Zexion's silver brows furrowed deeper. "I suppose..."

Axel nodded in thanks before looking through the blonde's files again. Roxas, at first, was trying to hold in his laughter, but then he remembered that no one could hear him anyway so he allowed his laughter break free. Axel rolled his eyes, letting his earlier slip up teach him a lesson on when and where he could respond to the snickering ghost.

_"I'm so sorry." _The blonde giggled softly, finally trying to reign in his chuckles so as not to upset the redhead any further. Axel could only stick his tongue out childishly.

_Strange..._ Zexion thought to himself as he observed the two teens. Axel's little freak moment wasn't going to go unjudged that easily. Especially with how many times the silverette's caught the redhead talking into thin air. It's never a good idea to lead on a scientist and there was certainly something off about Axel and Demyx, Zexion just knew it...

**Fin**

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**A/N:** So, I got this out within the second week, and I'm just letting you know that_ this is fast for me_. Like, I'm surprised I typed it up this quick. It's because it's the most popular really. But! That also means you have to wait three updates before I come back to this one. Sucks, I know. (Unless you're reading this when it's complete, if so, that's just plain cheating.) I actually cut it in half, so it's shorter than I intended.

**Ps:** I want to give a giant thank you to those who reviewed. You didn't have to yet you still spared your time to do so. And for that I want to give you my gratitude. A **HUGE** thank you to Rox123 (You're name didn't have a link, what's that about? I could never thank you personally.) for making my first review ever such a... memorable one. (Seriously, when I read it I laughed so hard I nearly had a lung attack.)

Review/Follow..uh, favorite?, **it's totally your** **call**. I write for fun, not for fame.


	3. Blue's Clues and Demy's Breakthrough

Ten Ways To Move On - III.

**Blue's Clues and Demy's Breakthrough**

**Warnings**: Okay, don't panic, but you have a little pinch of AxelxLarxene here. Yeah, this could only end in so many ways, right? Plus, editing is for squares, so beware. It's late and I'm cranky. Someone better have my goddamn milk and cookies when I'm through uploading this, too. I'm whipping out chapters like my school's whipping out depression.

**P.S: **I know _nothing _about Supernatural, or Ghost Whisperers, or Paranormal Activity. They just sound related to this story. Sorta.

**Disclaimer:** Do I write like I own Kingdom Hearts? Unless Kingdom Hearts is a yaoi filled, fangirl wonderland, then that's an obvious no, I don't.

Edited slightly: July 27th

**GO!**

* * *

Axel thought that because he lucked out at the hospital (Which he kind of expected from the get-go, both he and Demyx were at a loss for any medical terminology), the internet was the next best thing. In the apartment, Axel and Roxas sat at the bar in the kitchen as Demyx sat upside down on the couch. Axel was busy searching the web to decipher Roxas' medical record with the help of said blonde, who kept trying to write notes on the records without phasing through the pen, since Demyx wasn't really useful without the whiteboard.

"Found anything yet?" The lopsided, dirty blonde asked as a commercial interrupted his program. Axel sighed, slouching tiredly in his stool and removing his reading glasses to rub at his blurry eyes. Demyx took that as a definite no. "So let's summarize here, even with the records we can't find a cause? No irregularities? Not one?"

Roxas lifted up his whiteboard when Axel only groaned. _'Unfortunately, no.'_

Demyx thought for a second, his fingers gripping his own chin in wonder. "I guess we'll have to resort to plan B..."

"Which is?" Axel perked up, twirling in his stool.

The sandy blonde grinned from ear to ear in his upside down position, already anticipating the redhead's response. "Science fiction." Axel stared down the dirty blonde like he made another joke on the redhead's sanity. Demyx raised his hands in defense before continuing. "It's plausible, think about it. We're helping a ghost move to the afterlife. Does that not sound like a plot jacked from Supernatural or Ghost Whisperer or Paranormal Activity? What if we study up on that kind of stuff instead of this medical stuff?"

Roxas' head tilted at such a unique approach but Axel kept his scrutinizing glare. "I don't know if you've forgotten, Dem, but helping ghosts pass on ain't the most common occupation out there. In fact, I'm probably the only guy on the job, so what makes you so sure that the information in one of those paranormal books isn't just based off of the wild imaginations of nerds with no lives?" Axel argued.

Demyx flipped off the couch to his feet before joining Axel and Roxas at the bar. Pulling the laptop in front of him, he began his own research. And what his response was to Axel's question had the redhead sitting back in his stool with a clearly defeated look on his face. "Well, what do we have to lose? Decoding his medical records could take days, not to mention the fact that we may not even be doing it right to start with. And what if there's a time limit to do this, huh? What if Roxas just, like, disappears or something?"

_'Do you think that's possible?' _Roxas wrote, eyes saddening at the very mention of disappearing. Axel felt bad now. Even if he could see Roxas or talk to him, he could never really comfort the kid. Axel could never really grasp the fact that _Roxas was a ghost_, an unreal being that was stuck in a just as unreal situation, but he didn't want his mind to wander on the thought for too long anyway. It'd just freak him out more then he already was.

"Trust me guys, I've made a breakthrough on this one. You think I'm crazy now, but when all our questions are answered, you'll be wishin' I'd thought of this sooner." Demyx smiled, dexterous fingers dancing across the keyboard

Roxas smiled lightly at Demyx's enthusiasm and Axel rolled his eyes. "Yeah? Let's see this mighty power of Google then." The redhead challenged sarcastically. Seriously, what good was the internet in this kind of situation?

_"It may not be much, but at least we're getting __**somewhere**__." _Roxas joked half-heartedly.

Axel simply shook his head. "Yeah, getting us more wasted time."

Demyx knew the sudden remark was in response to something Roxas had said, but the fact that his best friend was talking to a ghost was going to take some getting use to. It scared the shit out of him. "Your doubt really hurts me here, Axe." The dirty blonde pouted, placing his left hand on his heart.

The redhead snorted and Roxas watched their banter with an amused smile. This must be the normal conversation between the two, he supposed. Leaning over Axel a bit to get a better view of the laptop that was now in front of Demyx, Roxas squinted his eyes at the results of the search. _"Ten ways to help a ghost move to the afterlife?" _Roxas laughed. _This_ was his breakthrough?

Axel smiled at hearing Roxas' laughter. It was nice to hear if not a tad foreign with those ever sad blue eyes. "Demyx, you're an idiot."

"I think you mean total genius." The dirty blonde tutted.

"I don't know what's more sad, the fact that you actually looked this up or the fact that there are actually websites for it. What is wrong with our country?" Axel asked disbelievingly as Demyx began to read an article. On steps on helping the afterlife. Like, legit steps. With diagrams and everything. _Smells like 40 year old virgins..._ Axel sighed mentally.

"Yeah, yeah. Ha. Ha. You're so funny." Demyx droned, clearly unamused, not that Axel cared. "Hey, um... Rox? Man this is weird... can you give Axel all the details you remember of the night you died? That's what they say the first step is." The dirty blonde asked, feeling way out of his mind while talking to what he saw as thin air but knew as the blonde, blue-eyed ghost boy.

Roxas blinked, surprised, but shook himself out of it fast enough to nod his head. _'Sure.'_ He wrote again before turning to Axel. The redhead adjusted himself on his stool, supposedly preparing to take in some seriously dramatic information. Roxas was already apologetic after peering into those expecting green eyes, he didn't really remember much about that night...

_"Honestly, there's not much to relay. It was Halloween and me and my friends had just got back from trick-or-treating." _Roxas noticed Axel's lifted eyebrow and waved his hands defensively in front of him. _"__**Not**__ my idea. Anyway, it was really late when we got back, I can't remember the exact time, but I know my family were all asleep when I got home, well with the exception of Cloud. I took a shower... texted Hayner... ate a few pieces of candy... and went to sleep for the night. That's all I remember... the next thing I know, I'm watching myself being rushed to the hospital." _

Axel hummed while taking in what the blonde had told him. It was a typical night, nowhere in the story were there any suspicious characters or questionable things done, not counting a bunch of sixteen year olds trick-or-treating. "His last night was pretty ordinary, nothing iffy about it. Just a good 'ol time trick-or-treating with his friends and then hitting the sack. Anymore great ideas?" The redhead asked Demyx, who was still reading meticulously.

Demyx threw a well-aimed punch at the redhead's shoulder while his blue eyes continued to scroll the screen. "Lighten up, Axe. That stick up your ass lately is starting to get on my nerves." He muttered. Axel blushed faintly and averted any eye contact with either blonde. Now that he thought about it, Roxas was seriously giving him a one-track mind. "Now write all that he told you down."

Axel's eyes widened. "You're joking." He said incredulously. Roxas snorted light-heartedly before taking the pen he previously wrote with and began writing everything he had just told the redhead. Demyx stopped reading for a split second, captivated yet at the same time scared shitless at the pen moving on its on. Oh how it was going to be a long day.

"Okay, once that's all written out, pick certain points in the story that stick out. Like, what he was wearing or where they went trick-or-treating. Then answer those questions." Demyx explained as he read.

"Are we ghost whisperers or detectives?" Axel asked lazily as he slumped back in his stool again. He already felt drained to the bone and it was only half past four. Helping ghosts was hard freaking work, you know?

"I'd like to think of us as the Free Spirits." Demyx cleverly countered, finally swiveling in his stool away from the laptop and to the redhead (and unknowingly Roxas as well). The sandy blonde laughed at Axel's disapproving head shake and Roxas giggled softly under his breath as he wrote. The slight distraction caused his hand to fade from the pen's grip, to the blonde's ironic amusement.

_"Catchy, I'm all for it." _Roxas said, grabbing at the pen again.

Axel brought his hand to his forehead in a slap and Demyx nodded appreciatively at the redhead's response. "Well, my job is done here. When all's been answered the Ghost Master will return to guide you further." The sandy blonde gloated, strutting away from the bar stool fast enough to dodge Axel's punch but with enough swag to taunt. And just as before, he flipped back upside down on the couch and resumed his show, which so happened to be a rerun of Courage the Cowardly Dog.

"_Why does he sit like that?_" Roxas asked, head tilting questioningly at the blonde's current position. Axel looked back at Demyx reflexively before shrugging.

"If it's something he's seen before, he'll sit like that for whatever reason." He explained, before smirking at the blue-eyed ghost boy. "You're phasing again."

Roxas looked down and noticed that he was no longer on the bar stool, but inside it. At least this time he didn't fall right through. "_Thanks for the warning._"

Demyx couldn't focus on Courage getting told off by his computer with the redhead over there talking to Roxas. It really felt more like he was talking to himself than anything. And the sight was giving Demyx the creeps. It was getting almost unbearable when fifteen or so minutes later there was a fast knock at there door. Demyx, being the complete gentleman he was, stared at Axel until the redhead rolled his eyes and got up to answer the door. Roxas laughed at this and Demyx smiled triumphantly, now able to watch his funnies in relative peace.

Until the door was actually opened.

"Hey, baby! Why didn't you text me back last night?"

Roxas turned in his seat to see a very loud blonde with a lot of makeup and a really short dress on. She was beautiful, as Roxas never recognized any woman as ugly, but the way she dressed could easily make that factor irrelevant. She had a tight looking tank top on and blue jean shorts short enough to be worn as underwear if she wanted to. And then there was her make-up. It was incredibly artistic, but couldn't she have used a lighter amount of it?

Her hair was unique though. Roxas had never seen a girl style their hair in such a way.

Axel let out a low, dare Roxas think it, almost _husky_ chuckle before smiling and rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah man, Larxene. I totally forgot. Work ran a little late last night and I've been busy all morning-"

"Are you saying that you forgot about me?" The girl teased, flirtatiously at that. From what Roxas could see, everything about her was flirty in some way. The way she dressed, the way she talked, blinked, walked, smiled. Roxas' cheeks warmed just from watching. "Because, as you very well know, forgetting about _me_ is impossible."

"Not entirely." Demyx chimed, good-naturedly. The girl, Larxene, sent a look towards the dishwater blonde that made him snicker at his own humor.

Axel high-fived his best friend with his eyes as he peered back at him briefly before turning to his girlfriend again and smoothly moving closer to her. "Really, I'm sorry for ignoring your text, Larx. I got so caught up with R-" Here, Axel stumbled as Roxas' name nearly slipped from his mouth. "With, uh, with the Strife family and school work and, and just all this other crap."

Larxene took the decreasing space between them into silent notice before stopping Axel's apology with smirk and a raised index finger. "Chill, hothead. This isn't an interrogation, Jesus." She laughed.

"Then what is it?" Demyx cut in again, this time with a slight whine in his voice. "Because I moved out the house to get _away_ from your annoying voice, now it's still making it hard to hear the TV! Move your love fest into Axe's room already so I can finally watch my show!" He said, definitely whining.

The redhead rolled his eyes as Larxene smiled evilly at the dishwater blonde. Axel knew that look, it was a look he _really_ enjoyed seeing on her face after a drink or two, but when directed towards Demyx, it meant something way, way worse. "Oh, my bad. Am I interrupting yours cartoon time, Demy? How 'bout I just-" Larxene then kicked at a few cords near the tv stand and succeeded in unplugging the one to the tv itself. "-fix that for you."

Demyx shrieked at the black screen before glaring at the smirking blonde. "_Okay_! I think it's time for me to leave now!" The sandy blonde almost yelled animatedly. Obviously he wasn't going to have his tv time with _her_ here, so he grabbed his cell phone, keys and to Roxas' surprise, the white board. Demyx looked into the direction of the bar and cocked his head towards the door. Even though the sandy blonde wasn't facing anywhere near Roxas, the smaller blonde having moved closer to the front door to see Larxene up close out of curiosity, he knew that Demyx wanted him to follow him out. Roxas didn't know why, but he shrugged and followed anyway.

"Don't be such a poor sport, Dem." Axel laughed as Demyx walked out the door, now flipping a bird before shutting the door (In Roxas' face, but the smaller blonde just continued to walk through it laughing as well.).

It wasn't until they were on the first floor and into the parking lot that Demyx stuck the white board out for Roxas grab, despite the fact that Roxas was on his _left_ side, not his right. The poor boy just couldn't get it right. Demyx walked with his hands in his pockets to the small park in the center of the apartment buildings. It was weird to Roxas that he wanted to be in such an obvious sight with a hovering whiteboard at his side, but the dishwater blonde didn't seem to mind, or consider, that at all. When Demyx spoke up again, it surprised the smaller blonde.

"How come you can phase through chairs and pens and floors, but not the ground?" He asked, seating himself under one of the palm trees scattered throughout the small park and watching as more and more children came to play on the slides and swings.

Roxas blinked, impressed at the observative blonde. Demyx apparently took everything Axel did or said in return to something Roxas did or said into memory. Even without seeing him. It was mind blowing, especially coming from the seemingly airheaded blonde. Was today his smart day or something? First the science fiction idea, now this? Studying something without actually watching it? Roxas was very surprised.

'_I can sense the other side of things like pens and chairs, so I unconsciously phase through the object to get to that other side._' Erasing that with the other end of the marker to make more room, he then added, '_The ground is completely solid for miles and miles. Unlike popular belief, I cannot phase through the ground._'

Demyx nodded, awestruck at both the information and the moving marker. "That's new. I thought ghosts could phase through everything."

'_I bet you thought we could fly too._' Roxas smiled as Demyx snorted with a guilty nod. '_We can't. Or at least I can't. Hard to speak for other ghosts when there are no other ghosts around._'

"That must blow." The older blonde said casually, to which Roxas laughed lightly. "Is your world, like, any different than what it was when you were alive?"

Roxas arched an eyebrow at the odd question. '_Umm, kinda, I guess. I see color, I hear the same, but I can't taste or feel anymore. Touches feel like air mostly, it's hard to explain._'

"Maybe that's why phasing is so hard to control." Demyx threw in there.

Roxas hummed at the possibility, before drawing a shrugging stick figure on the board to express his uncertainty. Demyx huffed a spur of laughter at the drawing, attracting the eyes of a few moms who were seated across the playground. '_Can I ask you something?_' Roxas then wrote out after Demyx smiled apologetically at them.

"Go for it." He nodded shortly, leaning back on his hands.

The marker hovered above the board for the longest time before Roxas finally wrote, '_Who was that girl?_' Innocent enough a question, he concluded. He tried not to sound too nosy, but then he felt bad because that's exactly what he was being at the moment.

"Who, Larxene? She's Axel's girlfriend. I swear, those two together are nothing but a constant thorn in my ass. Why they love to spend their time bothering me, I'll never know. Just be glad I got you out of there in time. Her visit was a lot more tame this time, thank the lord." Demyx answered, probably venting somewhere during his explanation.

Roxas understood perfectly what Demyx meant by tame. If the way she dressed was any indication, she didn't seem too fond of civil morals or principals. She seemed more like the daring type, the loose canon type. With Axel being the same way, he could only imagine what his eyes could have witnessed.

'_I really appreciate the save then._' Demyx laughed again and Roxas could almost guarantee that the moms were starting to fear the safety of their children. '_Say, while we're on the subject, you said at one point that you moved out. Did you guys live together or something?_'

"Yeah," Demyx nodded nostalgically before freezing and waving his hands rapidly in denial of something. "Wait, wait. That sounded really sketchy, let me rephrase. We use to live together because Larxene's my younger sister." He explained, spelling Larxene's name on the board just like he did his and Axel's name for future references.

Roxas oohed before piecing together the conversation again in his head. What happened earlier made _much_ more sense now.

* * *

"Think he'll be back anytime soon?" Larxene asked, eying the laptop on the counter of the bar. It had went to sleep over the minutes of non-use, but the notes beside it made her furrow her eyebrows a bit.

The redhead snorted as the memory of Demyx stalking out the apartment played again and again in his head. "Probably not. Why so concerned with time all of a sudden? Wondering how fast I can get into those shorts of yours?"

Larxene's smile stretched at the corners, but her eyes never left the notes. She curiously read the title before Axel came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her slightly exposed waist. The blonde chuckled absently, her focus shifted back on the redhead who was peppering her neck with sultry kisses.

"Look who's eager," Larxene smirked, sinking slightly then arching her body into Axel's on the way up. The act was subtle, but it turned Axel on to no end. Larxene then nodded her head over to the counter before asking, "Who's Roxas?"

Axel paused, his hands stopping their roam over her skin and his breath catching briefly. Green eyes wandered towards the notes Roxas was writing earlier to see the underlined title Roxas' Last Day. Underneath the title was listed events he must have wrote from said day.

"I dunno," Axel lied casually. "Ask your brother."

Larxene lifted an eyebrow, but the redhead's hand on the skin of her back kept her from indulging further on the subject. She turned her head and met Axel's lips in the usual sloppy kiss when aroused, but she never let the name leave her thoughts, even with the haze clouding it. _Roxas__..._ She'd have to be an idiot to believe Axel didn't know that name. It was obvious it was him at the counter and not Demyx, _Demyx_ was on the couch! The fact that Axel lied is what made her more curious than she wanted to be. He was hiding something and Larxene didn't like it.

Not one bit.

_**Fin**_

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**A/N: **I have _so much_ in store for this story. So far, it's the most popular of all my five stories, A Thing Called Irony being the second runner up. First Zexion gets curious, now Larxene? Damn. Someone get Scooby and the gang!

And again, you guys devoted some of your time to actually tell me what you thought about the story through reviews and I just want to say **_thank _**_**you**_. It means more to me than I thought it ever would. Especially lordibau for your really thorough review and CovertedToZemyx30 for your lovely metaphor. I feel you, girl, I feel you. I love reading them when I receive them, I really do, but please remember,

Review/Favorite/Follow, **it's totally your call. **I write for fun, not for fame.


	4. Blonde Bumps in the Road

Ten Ways To Move On - IV

**Blonde Bumps in the Road**

**Warning: **Alright guys, I need to ask you a serious question, and this is one of the only times where I'll personally ask for reviews. (This website seems to be hellbent on getting reviews all the time. Reading them is nice and they makes me feel all warm inside, but I'm not a homeless girl begging for money here.) I'm thinking about changing this into an M rated fic, is there anybody out there that would just truly _despise_ the thought of me doing so? Speak now or forever hold your peace! And there's a little M ratedness here in this chapter, so read at your own risk.

**P.S:** There's a new signature installment guys! I noticed how you guys can't see the views on my stories, so I'm doing this so you can see how many of you there are out there (and because I'm so use to views from Quizilla) Also, if you read the previous chapter before the 27th of July (2013), you might want to go back and reread the end. Changed it up a bit.

**View Count: **505

**Disclaimer: **(I almost forgot!) I DON'T OWN SHET.

**GO!**

* * *

Demyx completely forewent the idea of going back to their apartment anytime soon. The body party Axel and Larxene were probably having at the moment wasn't something the dirty blonde wanted to chance walking into. And over the last thirty minutes or so talking to Roxas, he'd finally gotten use to the idea of indirectly communicating with a ghost, as crazy as it always sounded. So he and Roxas decided to continue their recon without the redhead for today, or at least that was the plan as they made their way to Demyx's car (Demyx tracking where Roxas was by where the whiteboard was).

When the dirty blonde reached his black Honda Accord, he ducked behind the trunk of it as he watched a familiar tuft of bleach blonde hair walk by to her own car, chatting carelessly into her cell phone. "What's Larxene doing here...? I thought she was with Axel." Demyx speculated quietly, inching around the trunk to keep sight of her.

Roxas had crouched down beside the dirty blonde before deadpanning with a shake his head and straightening back up. He couldn't believe he still acted like people could see or hear him. Guess being a ghost was still too surreal even for the ghost himself. At the mention of Axel's name, he curiously walked towards the bleach blonde to hear her word's better.

"No, Marly, I'm serious. I couldn't make this up if I tried; Axel's _lost_ his mind. No, no, when I was in there, he tried to lie and say it was Demyx writing the notes on the counter. No, I wasn't too bothered by the notes itself, although the title freaked me out - it was called Roxas' Last Day. Yeah, it's the kid who died the other day! I know! That's what I'm fucking saying, Mar! Uh-huh, yeah, so then when I turned down sex and he got all mad because I woke up Jr. - I know! _I know_! Me turning down sex, check the sky cause pigs are flying right? So as he was taking a shower, I checked the idiot's laptop and he was looking up ten ways to _move on_, like, to the next life. What's the fuck's wrong with my boyfriend, Mar? Ha! Omg, don't even go there, Marluxia!" Larxene prattled, the rest of her conversation being blocked out once she closed her car door.

Roxas held his chin between his thumb and index finger thoughtfully before going back to where Demyx still crouched and picking up his whiteboard. Carefully constructing his words, he scribbled, _'Your sister may be on to us.'_

Demyx cringed and stood upright. "That's not good..." The dirty blonde huffed.

_'So what now? Should we tell Axel?' _

Demyx sighed at the added complications. Things just refused to be simple these days. First he decides to help a _ghost_ he couldn't even freaking see, now he's gotta worry about his younger sister finding out about it. Not to mention the weird looks that little doctor twerp was giving them or Marluxia, who was the biggest must-know-it-all whore on the planet. As if the situation wasn't damn near impossible to start with, right?

"Yeah, we gotta finish up your notes anyway..."

* * *

"Freaking sneaky ass, lying ass, sex-advertising ass, gonna-leave-a-man-hanging ass, jerk ass woman." Axel muttered as he stood rigidly in the shower, too mad to even care about the goosebumps invading every inch of his pale skin. He couldn't believe how stupid she made him feel, standing there all ready to sex it up when she very well knew from the start that she was just teasing him. The sadistic bitch. But the thought of how evil and naughty she was only made it that much harder for his erection to die down, even under the ice cold spray of water.

For the sake of his dying patience, Axel's hand wrapped around his stiff manhood and he pulled gently, groaning as he finally recieved some form of pleasure that day. He leaned back against the back of the glass shower and his wrist jerked faster as the pressure inside him built, squeezing softly at first then harder as his end came closer. Thoughts of blue eyes made him groan lower, and he became all the more aroused assuming that they belonged to Larxene's smirking face, but somewhere inside him he knew those eyes were deeper, _bluer_.

Axel's head turned to the side as he moaned in the back his throat, but it was only after he moaned like highly demanded prostitute that he noticed those deep, blue eyes staring widely at him. Axel's own eyes bugged out of his sockets as his hand instantly retracted from his length.

"R-Roxas, what the hell!?" The redhead shouted, stupidly trying to hide himself despite knowing that the blonde had long been seen him.

Roxas blushed from the very tips of his ears to the very ends of his neck. _Why_ he had agreed to come in the bathroom to see Axel was beyond him. The worst he thought the situation could have gotten was seeing him taking the shower, not masturbating in it! And when the blonde saw the scene before his eyes - the water trickling down the redhead's toned body and square shoulders, his face slack with pleasurable relief coursing through him, the steam that left his body glistening - Roxas had never, _ever_ seen something like that, and the very sight made his body completely overheat.

"I-I-I-" Roxas stuttered dumbly, unable to find the proper mechanics behind his limbs to move them. "I- No, u-uh, Demyx and I, u-uhm, w-w-we uh... was uhh.."

"Could you tell me when I get out, maybe?!" Axel interjected frantically. The twisted thing about it was, even with the small blonde gawking at his saluting erection, it only swelled that much more in arousal. Damn hormones.

Roxas stuttered a few more times before belatedly covering his eyes and shuffling awkwardly through the wall beside him. Axel stared at the wall Roxas disappeared into for what seemed like hours before closing his eyes tightly and dropping his head against the back of the shower wall.

That was fun.

Axel wondered why the blonde always insisted on creeping around while he was in the shower. What did he expect to find a nineteen year old male - who just got hung out to dry by his girlfriend, mind you - doing in the shower for twenty minutes? Having bubble parties? Rule number freaking one was for Roxas to stay away from the damn bathroom anyway!

Turning the shower off and wrapping a dark red towel around his waist, Axel padded his way into the living room, not giving a damn about the puddle he was creating on the hardwood floor. When he walked in, there was no immediate reaction. In fact, the two on the couch didn't react at all to the redhead's entry (Axel's guess was that Demyx didn't even realize the shorter blonde was beside him seeings as Roxas was without his whiteboard). They both seemed to be overly engrossed in the television screen that was now plugged back in and showcasing a rerun of Teen Titans.

However, there was one slight snicker that caught Axel's ear. If he looked hard enough, he could see Demyx's face tensing up with the effort to keep his laughter contained.

Axel's eyes narrowed. "You're more like your sister than you think, asshole." He finally said after several seconds of just standing there making a pond on the floor. The supposed insult only broke the dirty blonde's concentration as he deteriorated into a fit of loud laughter and wheezes.

"That's what you get for putting me out the house for half an hour!" Demyx retorted, clutching at his sides and bending at the waist in submission to the giggles racking his body.

Roxas, on the other hand, didn't find it anywhere near as funny knowing the dirty blonde sent him into the bathroom in anticipation of him catching Axel in the act. Roxas could get a joke, but this joke was taking a weird toll on him that he didn't like. It was like all his mind could flash behind his eyes were images of Axel in the shower, and it was horribly disturbing.

"If I remember correctly, you left all on your own, pal." Axel corrected, arching an irritated eyebrow. Then something finally clicked in his head. Green eyes swept across the living room and adjacent kitchen before he frowned in confusion. "Where's Larx?"

Demyx calmed from his chuckles almost abruptly as the reason for coming back to their apartment came back to him. "Oh yeah, right. That's what I sent Roxas to tell you."

Roxas came close to glaring at the dirty blonde and Axel knew if Demyx could see him, he'd only return to his fit of giggles. _"R-right. While we left you two alone, Demyx and I decided to continue our reconnaissance at the hospital, but as we got to Demyx's car, we saw Larxene leaving and talking to some 'Mar' guy on her cell phone. Turns out, in the twenty to thirty minutes she was in here, she connected the dots of the website on your laptop and the notes I left on the bar to my death a few days back. Long story short, we think she might be on to you."_

Axel rolled his eyes skyward while pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is _so_ not what we need right now." He groaned.

"So I'm assuming you're up to speed on what's going on now?" Demyx asked, trying to imagine a small blue-eyed blonde standing beside him talking to the redhead.

Axel nodded. "Tricky son of a- uggh. It all makes sense now. She asked about those damn notes not two minutes after you left, then she played me like a freaking recorder for fifth graders to the point where I had to take a cold ass shower to resist knocking her out - _a cold ass shower guys._ She must have been sneaking 'round my shit during that time." The redhead explained as he connected the dots himself.

"So first Zexion, now Larxene and Marluxia. It hasn't even been 24 hours and our secret's already getting out." Demyx snorted sarcastically.

Roxas picked up his whiteboard, summoning Demyx's attention immediately, and wrote sheepishly but with a small grin, _'Axel, your towel.'_

Axel grabbed at the slipping towel and stared at Roxas pointedly. For someone who just witnessed him jerking off, he was sure as hell calm about making jokes like that so quickly. The redhead didn't know what to think about that, because he himself couldn't entirely get over being caught in such an embarrassing manner. Again.

After _taunting_ him about the towel, the short blonde walked easily to the bar again before picking up the neglected pen and starting again at his list. Demyx returned to watching his cartoon and Axel was left to stand there like an idiot in a towel.

"I don't know what's happening in my life anymore..." The redhead sighed dramatically as he left for his room.

* * *

Demyx read Roxas' list as he finished writing then continued to follow the steps on the website. "Alright, so the next thing on our to-do list is to visit the costume store. Maybe search around and see if we find anything out of the ordinary."

"In a costume store?" Axel questioned dubiously, now clad in orange jeans and a red hoodie.

Demyx nodded as he reread Roxas' list to double check himself. "Well, according to Roxas, he didn't exactly buy his outfit from Wal-Mart or anything; not like the cheap ass corporation even _sells_ cool swordsman costumes for older kids. He and his friends went to a shop called Season's Treatings three cities over in Traverse Town."

"Store already seems pretty sketch to me. Why even bother going through all that trouble for a costume anyway?" Axel asked the short blonde.

Roxas shrugged, commenting, _"Hayner's idea. He saw an ad for it on YouTube and wanted to check it out. They had some pretty sick stuff out there, so we all ended up buying something cool to wear."_

Axel hummed. "It's only about a forty-five minute drive, if we leave now we can get in, search and seizure that shit up, and get out before nine."

Demyx closed the laptop and grabbed his cell phone and wallet. "Alright, sounds like a game plan to me. That gives us about three hours tops to do the rest of our assignment for Mr. Eraqus before class tomorrow."

Axel wasn't looking forward to it, as Chemistry could put any good mind in ruins before noon, but he had to credit himself for his time management. So without further delay, the two (three) left for Traverse Town, stopping twice on the way; once for snacks, the second time for a full on meal at McDonalds. Roxas never really considered how much he missed the taste of food until now. He remembered back when he, Hayner, Pence, and Olette would all stop at McDonalds to split a twenty piece Nugget after school before going to the Usual Spot.

It all seemed so long ago, yet like just yesterday to the small blonde. Time didn't really exist in this dimension he wandered in.

"Rox, you've got that look on your face again." Axel noticed as he watched the blonde from the rearview mirror. Roxas didn't bother looking up as he smiled bitterly. He needed a moment with this one, as one memory sprang up another like a chain reaction. At his silence, the conversation ended at that and the rest of the drive consisted solely on the music filtering through the car.

An hour and a half later, Axel parked in front of a small brick store with vines crawling over the rooftop and Halloween decor littering the display windows. Demyx surveyed the surrounding buildings that lined the small shop to see retail stores and candy shops and restaurants. There was one big grocery store in the center of all the other stores, but that concluded what consisted of this small area. It was a pretty tranquil place compared to the cramped city life of Radiant Garden.

"Alright team, move out!" Demyx announced, opening his car door and walking with a sophisticated air to the front doors. Axel shared a questioning look with Roxas before the two followed him inside hoping Demyx didn't end up looking like a drunk burglar to the cashier.

"Hello! Welcome to Season's Treatings. My name is Yuffie. Is there anything I can help you with today?" An unusually chipper raven spoke, waving to the two (three) men cheerily from beside a shelf of newly placed items for Thanksgiving. It wasn't anything new to see an overly happy employee in their teens working in an sidestore, but the stoic brunette behind the counter was a scary surprise.

"Hey. I'm Leon. Need anything, ask Yuffie." He simply said.

Axel nodded his respect to the brunette, knowing first hand how jobs like this with co-workers like _that_ could wear a guy out. "Yeah, Yuffie was it?" The girl nodded as she took a short break from her stacking and arranging. Axel continued, "Would you happen to remember a group of sixteen year old kids coming here to buy Halloween costumes like, three weeks ago?"

The raven haired girl, Yuffie, rolled her eyes upward in thought. "Hmm, not that I recall. Maybe Rinoa had my shift that day. Hey Squall, did you see a bunch of teens in here a few weeks back?" She called to the front counter.

The man in question grunted a concise reply. "Yeah." That's it. No elaborating, no continuations, no anything. Yuffie rolled her eyes and cleared her throat exasperatedly. Leon rolled his eyes in return before adding, "One girl, three boys. Two brunettes, two blondes. Really chatty bunch, but friendly at least. They came in, sifted through _every_ clothes rack before they all bought an outfit, then left. Only people I know to buy two hundred dollars worth of clothes with straight cash."

Axel conferenced with Demyx quietly, "Anything off about the story?"

The dirty blonde shook his head. "Nothing that I can guess at face value, other than the two hundred dollars part. Look around, ask Roxas specifically what he bought here while you're at it. On one of the websites, they say there are some candies or accessories that can alter the spirit from the body or act as aphrodisiacs in some cases."

Axel's eyebrows narrowed deviously and Demyx glared at him in warning. The dirty blonde checked the back of the store, which consisted of all the accessories, and Axel and Roxas checked the front and sides of the store, which consisted of all the costumes. They never really came upon anything that piqued their suspicions, even with Roxas giving Axel detailed recall of the day he and his friends visited the store.

Roxas' outfit consisted of a black kimono with a white sash around his waist, a sword case that rested across his shoulder, and the (fake) sword itself. On his feet he had white socks and brown sandals. Nothing really abnormal about the articles of clothing, but Axel bought the sword to research on later just in case. Demyx picked up a few necklaces and bracelets that caught his eye as well.

Leon and Yuffie gave the two weird looks during their entire visit, but neither the dirty blonde nor the redhead cared. They didn't really expect to find anything in the small store, but actually coming up empty handed and knowing the were back to square one put a sort of dark cloud over their heads. This may take longer than they thought...

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the long neglect.** Actually, even a month is fast for me, especially with so many other stories on my hand. And this particular chapter was really hard to write for some reason. I don't think I'm ever satisfied with what I upload, but hopefully you enjoyed some of this chunk of stupid. And don't forget to tell me your opinion on the rating, I'm asking because I'd hate to ruin this story for some people with maturity they'd rather not read.

Review/Favorite/Follow, **it's totally your call.** I write for fun, not for fame.


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